Solar Panels UK - is it worth it?

[thewishy]

General comment

One thing I would advise is also to consider lower capacity panels. You may find that because they're smaller than the larger ones, you can actually get more of them up on your roof and have more capacity.

So make sure you know your roof capacity.

It's a good thought. General comment on octopus, when I said they're looking for a standard install, this is what I'm talking about. They'll have 1 panel size available and order 1000s of them. Maybe you can go with another supplier and they'll measure the panels carefully and get the absolute maximum on them, but Octopus will probably be cheaper (because standard and bought in bulk) so the optimisation may not be cost effective

 

[GRiLLA]

General comment

It's a good thought. General comment on octopus, when I said they're looking for a standard install, this is what I'm talking about. They'll have 1 panel size available and order 1000s of them. Maybe you can go with another supplier and they'll measure the panels carefully and get the absolute maximum on them, but Octopus will probably be cheaper (because standard and bought in bulk) so the optimisation may not be cost effective

Heatable claim their panels will generate more on average in UK weather conditions where you are unlikely to get the full wattage of the panel anyway, although I've not really seen them provide particularly scientific evidence of this. Solar panels do probably need some standardised testing to be able to compare, just picking the highest W is likely misleading.

 

[notmeguv]

Ive never heard of this and cannot test it since my solar system even when upgraded will not constitute to the export limit (6kw) . However my logic is that being that I can charge the batteries at 10kw (from the grid) and discharge at the same rate internally, I can only assume that should the solar be able to give me 15kw and my batteries where at a low enough state of charge, I would get 10kw to the house/batteries and the rest would be exported (5kw). Also a benefit with my system at least is t that the solar keeps working even if the grid is down.

I have a Solaredge 5kW inverter and a Powerwall 2. My export limit is 8.68kW. I have tested and can export from solar and battery at the same time at more than the max 5kW of the Solaredge inverter (due to the Powerwalls integrated inverter).

So in theory should my system be able to export 5kW from solar and also top off the battery at the same time if there was any production more than the 5kW of the Solaredge inverter?

 

[NastyNick83]

Public service announcement: Octopus have switched over (as of Thursday I believe) to Enphase equipment. Still use JA panels. Quotes were coming out cheaper too.